Life Stages on Rotuma, 1890–1960
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Part 2 Life Stages on Rotuma, 1890–1960 Rotuman Life Experiences, 1890–1960 Chapter 13 Childhood A striking feature of life on Rotuma is the extent to which children were generally indulged by parents and grandparents and, frequently, by other kin as well. They were often being fed first and given the best food, and they were rarely punished with severity. Children were regarded as extraordinarily precious, in part, perhaps, because high rates of infant and child mortality in years past made their survival problematic. A number of Rotuman sayings gave expression to this love of children, or to a specific, pet child. Terms of endearment, as expressed by mothers, included ‘Oto finäe pupu (A piece of my intestine); ‘Otou le‘et gou ‘es (A child I bore); ‘Otou fanau (The one from my womb); and ‘Otou manman moit (My little bird). Specially favoured children were alluded to in the sayings ‘On mean mat het (One’s wet turmeric powder) and ‘On joan ru he (One’s painful sore [from yaws]).1 The life story accounts reveal some pervasive themes and significant variations in the childhood experiences of Rotumans growing up in the period we are concerned with in this book. Variations include the size and composition of households within which individuals were raised, the wealth and status of families within the community, the nurturing and disciplinary roles that different individuals played in the children’s socialization, and the emotional overtones that these adults attributed to their childhood recollections. 232 Rotuman Life Experiences, 1890–1960 Household Size and Structure A number of variables affected the size and form of households in which children were raised during the first six decades of the twentieth century: a high birth rate, changing rates of infant and child mortality, the longevity of older adults, the deaths of one or both parents, and parental separations and divorces. The birth rate remained high throughout the period at 40+ per 1,000, while death rates ranged from a high of 81.3 per 1,000 in 1910– 1914 (primarily as a result of a devastating measles epidemic in 1911)2 to a low of 8.6 per 1,000 in 1955–1959 (primarily as a result of introduced wonder drugs such as penicillin). Infant mortality ranged from a high of 524.4 in 1911 to a low of 34.5 in 1959. The combination of a steady birth rate and a falling death rate resulted in an increase of Rotuma’s overall population from 2,112 in 1921 to 2,993 in 1956 (and an increase in the number of Rotumans in Fiji overall, including Rotuma, from 2,164 in 1921 to 4,471 in 1956) (figures from the 1956 Fiji Census). Table 1 Number of Women by Age Group and Number of Living Children (Rotuma 1956) Present no 1-3 4-6 7-8 9 or more Total No. Age of children children children children children of Women Mother 25-39 40 153 138 23 18 372 40-59 19 68 115 38 28 268 60+ 8 24 36 8 7 83 Total 67 245 289 69 53 723 233 Rotuman Life Experiences, 1890–1960 Table 1, extracted from page 160 of the 1956 Fiji Census, provides a general idea of the range of family sizes at the time, based on the number of a woman’s surviving children in three age brackets. The actual number of children born to women was significantly more, but given high rates of infant mortality, particularly in the early part of the century, the number of surviving children was substantially reduced. Among those who mentioned such information in their life stories, there was considerable variance regarding the number of children in their families, with six individuals reporting that they had been only children, and five saying that they were one of ten or more (see Table 2). Table 2 Occurrences of Number of Children in Family as Reported in Life Stories Number of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 children in family Occurrences 6 8 5 6 3 5 6 5 0 2 0 3 However, the number of children in a family does not necessarily correspond to the sizes of households within which children are raised because many households in Rotuma during this period included grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as more distant relatives. A household census conducted by my Rotuman assistants in 1960 revealed the following variations in overall household size: 46 (11%) households containing 1–3 persons; 158 (38%) with 4–6 persons; 141 (34%) with 7–9 persons; and 72 (17%) with 10 or more persons. Of equal or often greater relevance than household size is the question of who is present in a household and who takes primary 234 Rotuman Life Experiences, 1890–1960 responsibility for raising a child. While the great majority of households in our 1960 survey (80%) can be classified as nuclear (containing a married couple and their children), 27 percent of them included a grandparent and grandchildren, and 26 percent included nonlinear relatives such as uncles, aunts, cousins, namesakes, and more distant relatives or nonrelatives. In addition, among the 20 percent of non-nuclear (or sub-nuclear [for example, one-parent]) households, 9 percent included a grandparent and 7 percent included nonlinear relatives or nonrelatives. A caveat is in order here: Household size and composition in 1960 almost certainly vary from the periods during which our life story tellers were raised, between 1890 and the 1940s, when population fluctuations on the island were quite dramatic. However, we can reasonably assume that the presence of grandparents and other relatives in households was common throughout the period insofar as it reflected the Rotuman cultural values of inclusiveness and accommodation. This assumption is supported by comments in the life stories by those who chose to live with and help their siblings, parents, or other relatives, or who, in their later years, came to stay with and rely on members of younger generations. Also affecting household composition and the socialization of children is the death, divorce, or separation of parents. Among 70 individuals providing relevant information about their childhood in their life stories, the great majority (51, 73%) reported being raised in households containing both their parents; nine (13%) reported being raised primarily by their mothers, with or without stepfathers; four (6%) by grandparents; and four (6%) by aunts and uncles. One person reported being raised by his father and stepmother and another by nonrelatives whom he referred to as “uncle” and “aunt.” 235 Rotuman Life Experiences, 1890–1960 Of Poor and Rich Overall, the dominant theme in recollections of childhood is a concern for material well-being, both in the form of being well fed and in having one’s wants fulfilled by parents and other caretakers. Associated with this is a recognition of the hard work required by one’s elders to meet children’s needs and wants. Fifteen individuals described their families as “poor,” mostly to emphasize the difficulty their caretakers had to fulfil their needs and wants. For example, a woman who was born in the 1920s gave the following account of her childhood: I was the youngest in a family of six children, and we all lived together with our parents. They were very good and kind to us but we were poor, and sometimes we could read on their faces that they were worried about something…. My father worked very hard and tried every means he could to earn money for us. They used to tell us sometimes that if we wanted something and my father could not provide it right away, we should try not to cry out and should be patient, because my father was poor and if he could, he would get it for us afterwards. Even in dire circumstances, expressions of gratitude for the efforts of parents to provide are pronounced in these accounts. As a woman born in the 1910s put it: I was the oldest of three children who had different fathers and were brought up in three different homes. I can remember being brought up by my dear mother without someone to care for us. Poor me and my mother, who was doing all she could to provide us with food and to earn money for our living. She was strong enough to work like a man. I had everything I wished for and all the food I wanted. There were only two of us in the family then, and she really did enough to support us. She used to speak about the wealthy people and the poor ones; they live the same and death 236 Rotuman Life Experiences, 1890–1960 came upon everyone, whether rich or poor. She always told me to keep quiet about the things that wealthy children had because she couldn’t provide them as I didn’t have a father to help her give me all that I needed. And in more “normal” circumstances, a man born in the 1890s related that “our parents were good people, but they were poor. They did their best to supply us with everything that we needed. I know they were kind, because whenever we wanted something, and they were unable to get it at the time, my mother would tell us to wait, and eventually my father would get it for us.” In a couple of instances individuals described their families as “rich,” including a woman also born in the 1890s, who related: “I can remember that nearly all the families in that district were my parents’ friends.